Prone Positioning and Regional Ventilation in Mechanically Ventilated COVID-19 Patients

The consensus therapeutic strategy implies that COVID patients with acute lung injury due to coronavirus are routinely placed in prone position in an attempt to improve oxygenation by increasing ventilation homogeneity. The purpose of the study is to quantify with the electrical impedance tomography (EIT) the changes in the ventilation and aeration in the dorsal regions of the lung when the patient is placed in prone position.

Patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) frequently develop atelectasis in dorsal lung regions because of gravity and the compression by the heart and the diaphragm. Since lung perfusion is predominantly distributed in lower lung regions, a reduction of ventilation in these areas results in further ventilation-perfusion mismatch, called shunt. The development of atelectatic lung regions necessitate the use of higher ventilation pressures, which in turn results in excessive transpulmonary pressures and ventilation-induced lung injury in the ventral regions. Therefore it is common to promote the prone position in patients with ARDS in order to improve ventilation-perfusion matching and thus, protect the ventral regions from hyperinflation. In patients with COVID-19-related ARDS, the value of such therapeutic strategy based on placing in prone position has not been completely elucidated. The aims of the study are to determine whether prone positioning improves dorsal regional ventilation when compared to supine position. Moreover, another aim is to assess the changes in intrapulmonary shunt following patient position changes.